Gray (1856–1931) was a Boston lawyer whose practice in the management of private estates and trusts brought him into close contact with a number of business organizations and institutions. A trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1902 until his death, he served as that museum’s president from 1914 to 1924. In 1923 the Boston museum’s board of trustees commissioned Grafly, then head of the modeling department at the museum school, to execute this bust of Gray. The sculptor presented his subject in a hermlike form, eliminating all contemporary references. In 1925 the museum’s board of trustees decided to have the bust translated to marble by the Piccirilli Brothers, and gave Gray this original bronze, inscribed number 1. His daughter later gave it to the Metropolitan Museum.